In the last few years the popularity of cellular phones, digital pagers, wireless Internet access and digital telephone service has increased dramatically. In order to provide these communication services the service providers must maintain a network of towers spread across the area of coverage. Since what these service providers sell is air time, it is very important that these providers place a tower and equipment quickly in any location where insufficient capacity exist. Temporary facilities play an important role in providing the service provider a mechanism with which they can provide coverage to meet such demand. When there is insufficient coverage to meet standard usage requirements, a temporary facility may be used while a permanent site is built. From time to time these towers are taken out of service for routine maintenance or due to damage caused by storms or accidents. When the towers are taken out of service this forces the service provider to either have a gap in coverage or to obtain temporary facilities to provide services. Temporary facilities are also useful in providing cellular capacity necessary to cover increased temporary demand due to a large sporting event, celebration or festival.
Purported improvements to portable towers are known and represented in the prior art. For example:
U.S. Pat. No. 544,577 issued on Aug. 13, 1895 to J. B. Greve discloses a fence post.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,360,493 issued on Nov. 30, 1920 to O. W. Breden discloses a distributing apparatus.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,863,530 issued on Dec. 9, 1958 to H. J. Woolslayer et al. discloses a portable oil well derrick
U.S. Pat. No. 2,905,280 issued on Sep. 22, 1959 to S. M. Weaver discloses a telescoping or collapsible brace construction
U.S. Pat. No. 2,973,818 issued on Mar. 7, 1961 to G. I. N. Marvin discloses a wheeled trailer for liquid fertilizer applying apparatus.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,289,364 issued on Dec. 6, 1966 to H. B. Watts Jr. et al. discloses a composite tower structure and method of tower erection and storage.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,011,694 issued on Mar. 15, 1977 to Frederic E. Langford discloses a method and apparatus for guying a load bearing member wherein a system for guying a tower on which a force is exerted in a direction transverse to the elongate dimension thereof includes a plurality of guys interconnected between the tower and respective anchors. The guys are placed under a tension load to oppose the force exerted on the tower. An extensible device, such as a hydraulic piston and cylinder assembly, is serially interconnected with the guys at a location between the tower and the anchor. Before a force is exerted on the tower, the piston and cylinder assemblies are pre-pressurized with hydraulic fluid so as to retract the pistons and thus reduce the effective length of the guys. When the load on the guy bearing the greatest tension load reaches a predetermined value, hydraulic fluid is relieved from its associated piston and cylinder assembly, allowing the assembly to extend and increase the effective length of that guy. As this occurs, the tower will translate in the direction of the load exerted thereon, transferring a portion of the tension load that would otherwise be borne by the guy bearing the greatest load to the remaining guys. The tension load at which the piston and cylinder assembly extends is predetermined so as to prevent the tension load per unit cross sectional area of its associated guy from exceeding the ultimate strength of that guy.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,899,500 issued on Feb. 13, 1990 to Harmon R. Miller et al discloses a CMR (Cellular Mobile Radiotelephone) cell site which includes a foundation for a CMR equipment edifice. The foundation, together with the edifice, rests on a leveled surface. An antenna tower is mounted on the roof of the edifice and is secured by an antenna mounting brace embedded in the roof of the edifice. The antenna is guyed at three elevations along the antenna's height to three points on the foundation. The edifice encloses a 10-inch-square, steel support column, positioned within the edifice directly beneath the antenna mounting brace, for supporting the antenna tower. Four-inch-thick slabs of concrete are inserted between the floor of the edifice and the support column and between the support column and the roof so as to isolate the interior of the building from electrical disturbances such as lightening.